


get the picture

by weegee1204



Series: For Future Reference Universe [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Is On The Aromantic Spectrum, Dads Patton and Janus, Kid Logic | Logan Sanders, Librarian Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, M/M, the twins are Barely in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27985983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weegee1204/pseuds/weegee1204
Summary: Virgil babysits Logan, and learns a bit while he does it.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: For Future Reference Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858879
Comments: 33
Kudos: 118





	get the picture

**Author's Note:**

> this is a sequel oneshot to my WIP fic [Starting New Chapters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25736098/chapters/62494876)\-- you don't have to read SNC first to understand this, and while this fic will contain spoilers for the ending of SNC, i still encourage you to read it if you enjoy this AU! (mainly because i want to keep writing for this AU, and who knows when i'll have the time to actually finish a multichap fic like that xD)
> 
> Anyways, all you really need to know is: Virgil is on the aromantic spectrum (ATM I'm leaning towards greyromantic, but it's still up in the air); he, Patton, and Janus have been 'dating' for a couple months; and Patton and Janus have 3 kids: Logan who is 6 and a half, and Roman and Remus, who are 1 month old.

“Okay, we’ve got the diaper bag, bottles, pacifiers, insurance information, my wallet, Janny’s cane, cell phone, car keys… key, keys, keys, where are my keys?”

Virgil watched from his position at the kitchen table as Patton flitted around the room, stacking all of the items on the table so they wouldn’t get lost. His eyes darted around until they landed on the bowl of random stuff on the kitchen counter, which he began noisily digging through in search of his misplaced keys.

“Sorry you have to go right back to the library after you just got off work,” he said, shooting Virgil a sheepish look.

“Don’t apologize,” Virgil replied. “I’m happy to take him.”

Patton nodded once, but he still sounded frazzled as he continued, “We went to the park and had a big lunch earlier, so if he starts getting tired it’s totally fine to just take him home and let him nap. But _don’t_ call it a nap, though, or he’ll never go to sleep then.”

“Got it.”

“And I told Janus to text you the address of the doctor’s office just in case,” Patton continued, lifting up piles of junk mail from the counter as he continued to search for the keys. “I don’t know how long we’ll be there, but he’ll send you updates. If it looks like we’re gonna be gone a long time, we’ll pick up some food for dinner— oh, we’ll get something from that pizza place you really like, okay? And— and once Logan gets to sleep, maybe we can watch a movie together, any movie you want, Janny’s gonna fall asleep halfway through whatever it is, anyway—”

He turned sharply, mouth open with yet another stray thought, but Virgil had already gotten up to stand right next to him. Patton’s keys jingled from where they dangled in Virgil’s grasp.

“We’ll be fine,” Virgil insisted gently. He pressed the keys into Patton’s open palm, allowing his other hand to hesitantly rest on Patton’s cheek.

All at once, Patton slumped, his face subconsciously turning into Virgil’s touch.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I just don’t like treating you like a babysitter, like we just call you when we’re busy and need some help with the kids. Because that’s not why I want you here. Not why _we_ want you here.”

Virgil nodded slowly. “I know. You want me here because of my quiet wisdom, my bad boy attitude, and my unbelievably sexy body.”

It took a lot for Virgil to force the words out without stuttering, but being able to actually _feel_ the blush on Patton’s cheek underneath his palm was more than worth it.

“You—” Patton said, a flustered smile rising to his face. “Hush up!’

Virgil grinned, shrugging as he continued, “Hey, I get it, people find librarians very attractive, there’s no shame in it—”

Patton huffed and whapped him on the chest, half embarrassed and half amused. “You read too much.”

“And you worry too much,” Virgil said, giving Patton a knowing look. “You’re busy, and I like helping you. It’s a win-win.”

A beat, and then Patton sighed heavily, leaning his forehead against Virgil’s.

“I promise, promise, promise, we’ll get a babysitter soon, and then we’ll have a date night,” he swore, nuzzling his nose against Virgil’s. “Just the three of us.”

Virgil felt his eyes close involuntarily, relishing in the feeling of Patton’s warmth against his own.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Except to the library with our darling son, correct?”

Janus’ voice broke the two men apart. Both of them turned to the kitchen doorway, where the smaller man watched them with a faux unimpressed expression.

“Except there,” Virgil agreed, moving away from Patton and trying not to feel awkward that Janus had just seen him caressing his husband. Janus didn’t seem to mind, merely quirking his head towards the living room.

“Babies are good to go whenever, but Logan’s reading to them right now.”

Patton smiled and hurried to the door. Virgil followed, peeking out over their shoulders as the three of them took in the objectively adorable scene before them.

Logan was sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor, a chapter book in his lap as he read out loud from its pages. In front of him, lying on a bundle of blankets that Logan had clearly arranged with great care, were Roman and Remus, eyes wide open as they watched Logan’s every move.

“Jupiter is a gas giant, and it lacks a true surface,” Logan read aloud, voice as smooth and clear as he could make it. “It is made up of about ninety percent… _hydrogen_ , and ten percent _helium_.”

He flipped the book around, holding it open with one hand as he pointed out the diagram to his brothers with the other. “See? It does not have dirt like Earth. It is made of gas. But not gas like farts, because that would be gross.”

Janus snorted, burying his face in Patton’s upper arm. Logan still didn’t notice that he had an audience, because he continued by reciting, “Jupiter has seventy nine moons. Four of them, the— the _Galilean_ moons, helped shape our view of the universe.”

Again, he flipped the book around, this time crawling onto his knees so that he could get closer to each of his brothers in turn.

“Look, Roman,” he instructed the baby, pointing at the drawing of Jupiter and its moons. “The Earth only has one moon, but Jupiter has seventy nine moons, which is a lot more moons. See, Remus?”

He shifted the book so that Remus could look at it as well; to his credit, he seemed unbothered by the fact that the babies were largely unresponsive to his lecture, due to them being literal infants.

Although Virgil couldn’t see their faces, he could imagine the smiles that Patton and Janus wore as they watched their three sons together. The mere notion that he had the chance to be even just a small part of this picture-perfect family made Virgil smile, too.

Then Janus nudged Patton with his elbow, and the taller man cleared his throat as the three of them stepped into the room.

“Alright, gang, it’s bye-bye time!” he said cheerfully. “Lo, are you at a good stopping point?”

Logan looked up as he carefully bookmarked his page. He scrambled to his feet and nodded at his dad.

“Yes I am, because we just finished reading all of the fun facts about Jupiter which is good because Jupiter is my favorite planet,” he informed them. He craned his neck to look up at Virgil.

“What is your favorite planet, Virgil?”

Virgil thought for a moment.

“I like Mars.”

Logan nodded. “Mars is a good planet.”

Virgil nodded back. The two stood there, nodding at each other.

“I like Saturn, not that anybody asked,” Janus interjected, wrestling with the baby carriers as he pulled them out of the front hall closet.

Logan huffed, shooting his dad an exasperated look. “I did not ask you because I already _know_ that, Papa.”

“Well, maybe it changed. You don’t know.”

Logan bristled in indignation. “Yes, yes I _do_ know! Because we watched the movie about the astronauts and you said that it was your favorite planet then, and so I know that it is still your favorite because that was only three days ago.”

“Oh, is that a fact?”

“Yes, it is a fact.”

“Is it?”

“Yes!”

“My favorite planet is Earth!” Patton chimed in. Logan looked at him for just a second before sighing in resignation.

“I knew that, too, Daddy,” he replied. The weary look on his little face made Virgil have to bite his cheek to keep from laughing.

Patton clicked his tongue as he knelt down to be closer to his sons, nuzzling Logan’s cheek to make him stop frowning.

“I’m so proud of you, being such a good reader for your brothers,” he said earnestly. That, at least, earned a small smile on Logan’s face, although he still ducked away from Patton’s touch.

“I bet they just love when Mr. Logan starts teaching them,” Patton continued, attention shifting toward the two children that wouldn’t reject his affection. “Don’t you, sweeties?”

He continued to coo wordlessly as he pulled Remus into his arms, making kissy noises as he gently bounced the baby. Logan made a face, and Virgil caught his eye with a sympathetic smile.

“I will go get my socks and shoes,” he muttered, darting away from the blatant display of Patton gooeyness.

Patton laughed as his oldest son ran away, but his attention was still mainly on Remus as he continued, “Do you like it when Logi reads to you? Do you? Yeah you do, my little baby Reemie! Who's the cutest baby? Who’s the cutest little baby?”

“Bold of you to say that when his twin is literally right here,” Virgil interjected, gesturing at the baby that was still laying on the blanket.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Patton said, reaching over to tap his fingers against Roman’s tummy. “Reemie is the cutest little baby, and Romie is the prettiest little baby! Yes he is, yes he is!” He leaned forward to press a smattering of kisses against Roman’s head, then Remus’ head, chirping compliments all the while.

“He knows we can all see how cute the babies are, right?” Virgil stage-whispered to Janus over Patton’s head.

Janus shrugged with a wry smile. “I remember how he acted when Logi was little. He’s just getting started.”

“Getting started on what?” Logan asked, darting back into the room with his dinosaur socks in one hand and his light up sneakers in the other. He plopped down onto the floor next to Patton as he began pulling them on.

“Oh, just talking about how cute you were when you were a baby,” Janus said smoothly. Logan’s curious expression quickly morphed into one of disgust.

“Papa!”

“What?” Patton asked, an innocent smile on his face. “With your big eyes, and your sweet smile, and those teensy, tiny little toesies…”

His hand creeped down to pinch at Logan’s toes. The boy yanked his feet away with a squeak, and Patton laughed.

“I could just eat them right up!”

Logan huffed, folding his knees to his chest to hide his warming cheeks. “Daddy, you are being weird again. I am _not_ a baby.”

“He’s right,” Virgil interjected. “You’ve got two perfectly good babies right there. Let Logan be a big kid.”

Logan looked at Virgil with surprise for just a moment before nodding firmly.

“Yes, thank you, Virgil.” He turned back to his parents, puffing his chest out and stoically repeating, “I am a big kid.”

Even Virgil had to admit it was hard not to fawn over Logan’s attempt at maturity. Still, Patton and Janus merely paused for a moment before smiling at their son apologetically.

“We know you are, honey,” Patton said, reaching out to rub Logan’s upper arm comfortingly. “I’m sorry for teasing.”

“Apologies as well, my darling,” Janus added, coming up behind them and resting a hand on Logan’s head. “We won’t treat you like a baby anymore. We promise.”

He ran his fingers through Logan’s scruffy hair with care as he checked his watch.

“Oh shucks, Patty, we’ve really gotta run now.”

Patton startled, craning his neck to check the clock on the wall. “Oh, gosh, okay! Upsy daisy, baby boys!” He stood up, shifting Remus in his arms with a practiced ease, while Janus dropped his hand from Logan’s head to collect Roman from the floor.

As Patton strapped the boys into their carriers, Janus grabbed a book from the coffee table and held it out to Logan.

“Oh, darling, would you mind returning this book to the library, please? I just finished it.”

Virgil couldn’t help but smirk as Logan gasped, immediately scrambling to his feet again and bounding over to Janus. He stopped just shy of running into the man, and expectantly raised his hands with a look of determination.

“Now, this book has a lot of people on the waitlist,” Janus informed him in a serious voice. “Are you sure you’re up for the job?”

“I can do it! I can do it!” Logan insisted, hurriedly accepting the book from Janus’ hands. “I will be really careful, okay, Papa?”

Janus knelt down so that he was closer to eye level with his son. “Logan, you’re the only person in the world I’d trust to return my library book for me. I have total faith in you.”

Logan nodded. He held the book tightly against his chest, swaying just a bit on his heels.

Then he lunged forward, and Virgil had half a second to panic at the abrupt movement before he realized the boy had merely thrown his arms over his dad’s shoulders, gripping him in a tight hug.

“Bye, Papa. I love you.”

Janus took a moment to process this, making a slightly bemused expression to Virgil over Logan’s shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Logan in return, squeezing him gently and rocking him back and forth.

“I love you too, my little brainiac,” he murmured.

“Hey, mister!” Patton interjected from the doorway. “Where’s Daddy’s hug?”

Logan pulled away from Janus, looking over his shoulder to Patton as he replied, “I had to finish hugging Papa first, obviously.”

“Oh, obviously,” Patton repeated with amusement. He held out his arms and made grabby hands at his son. “Come here.”

Logan trotted over, and he threw his arms around Patton as soon as his dad knelt down to his level.

“Bye, Daddy. I love you.”

Patton squeezed the boy tight for just a second, before pulling back to give him a smile.

“Love you too, kiddo. Be safe. Have fun. Listen to Virgil.”

He punctuated each of his directions with a kiss on the cheek, which Logan accepted with no protest for once.

“I will!” he replied obligingly. He let Patton hold him for a few more seconds before he inevitably started to squirm. Patton released him, and after he and Janus recollected the myriad of supplies from the kitchen table, it was finally time to leave.

“Wave buh-bye!” Patton cooed at the babies as Virgil opened the front door. “Can you say, ‘bye-bye, Logi’?”

Logan scoffed from his seated position on the bottom stair. “They cannot talk yet, Daddy, because they are too little, because the book about babies that you bought said that they will not talk probably until they are at least nine months old to one year old—”

“Oh no, they just talked,” Janus said dryly. “You missed it.”

“What?” Logan gasped, jumping to his feet before he realized Janus was messing with him. He stuck out his tongue at Janus, who didn’t even hesitate before returning the gesture.

“Love you, Logan,” he sang, winking at Virgil as he picked up Roman’s carrier and headed out the door. Patton followed with Remus' carrier in hand, babbling last minute instructions to behave as he blew goodbye kisses to both Logan and Virgil. The two stood in the open front door, watching the dads carefully secure their babies in the backseat of their minivan, and before long they were waving at the rear window as the car pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.

Virgil looked down at Logan, who was steadfastly watching the car drive away until it disappeared from view. He seemed lost in thought, to the point where he actually jumped a bit when Virgil placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry,” Virgil said automatically. “Just wanted to know if you were ready to go to the library.”

Logan looked back up at him, Janus’ book still clasped to his chest. “Yes, I am ready.”

Virgil nodded, and after triple checking that he’d grabbed the house key Patton and Janus had left for him, the two of them set off on the short walk to the library.

By the time they started walking, however, Virgil noticed something particularly strange.

Logan… wasn’t talking.

He seemed fine otherwise; he wasn’t pouting or upset about anything that Virgil could see. He wasn’t ignoring Virgil, either— Virgil confirmed this by cautiously offering Logan his hand, which the young boy grabbed without hesitation. Virgil obviously didn’t mind the silence, but there was something weird about being with Logan and _not_ hearing him talk a mile a minute. 

When they arrived at the library, Virgil moved on autopilot as he led them both to the playzone. They walked hand in hand past the children’s desk (waving to Dot as they did) and finally reached the shelves of junior non-fiction, where Virgil dropped Logan’s hand and began dramatically cracking his knuckles.

“So where are we gonna start today?” he asked. “Maybe the rainforest? We just got some chapter books that come with CDs so you can listen to the animal noises while you read—”

“Um,” Logan interrupted. His voice sounded different than usual, too— a little more controlled, maybe. “I think you do not have to look for books with me today. I can look by myself.”

Virgil stopped walking. Slowly, he turned and looked at the kid. Logan wasn’t looking at him, instead staring off to the side like Virgil wouldn’t notice his obvious misdirection.

Virgil blinked. “Sure, if that’s what you want.” He paused again, stepping closer to the kid before continuing, “What are you looking for?”

Logan’s hands creeped up to twist and tug at his shirt. “Um. Nothing.”

Alright, add ‘blatant lying’ to the list of uncharacteristic Logan behaviors for the day, which was gradually getting much longer than Virgil was comfortable with. He stepped even closer until he was standing right in front of Logan, and after a moment of indecision knelt down so he could meet the boy’s eyes.

“Are you lying because you want to be independent, or because you don’t want me to know what you’re looking for?” he asked, gentle but firm.

Logan looked at him. “What’s _independent_?”

Virgil noticed that he didn’t bother to argue that he wasn’t lying, but chose not to comment on it.

“It means you do things by yourself, without anyone’s help,” he replied instead.

Logan’s face scrunched up in indignation.

“I can do things by myself,” he insisted.

“Yep,” Virgil agreed easily, giving Logan a serious look. “But you don’t have to.”

The two of them held eye contact for a few more seconds. Virgil could see Logan’s resolve wavering.

Finally, the boy dropped his eyes to the ground.

“... I want to look for some picture books,” he mumbled. Virgil blinked.

“Okay.”

Logan looked up, hastily adding, “For the babies!”

“I figured.”

He waited patiently. As expected, Logan continued to speak, looking around the children’s section as he explained, “They— they like it when I read my chapter books to them, but, um, I just think that they will like picture books more than chapter books.”

Honestly, the babies were so young they probably had no concept of whatever books Logan chose to read to them, but Virgil wasn't gonna say that.

"You might be right," he replied instead, shifting backwards so he could give Logan a reassuring smile. “There are lots of really good picture books out there. Do you want me to help you look for some picture books for the babies?”

Logan looked at him with a shy gratitude, and nodded quickly. “Yes, please, thank you.”

Virgil held out his hand, and after a moment Logan took it. The two of them walked further into the playzone together, Logan leading Virgil straight to the shelves full of picture books before stopping abruptly a few feet away.

“Okay, let’s see...” Virgil released Logan’s hand again, moving to kneel in front of the nearest shelf.

“Do you think the babies would like Dr. Suess?” he asked. Logan followed him, peering over Virgil’s shoulder to the shelf in front of them.

After a moment, he replied, “Yes, I think that is a good idea because Dr. Suess has lots of pictures and made up words and I think the babies will like silly books like that.”

Virgil hummed in agreement. He began pulling out different oversized books with hard backs and bright covers.

“Do we want ‘The Cat In The Hat’, or ‘Horton Hears A Who’, or ‘The Sneetches’—?”

“Um,” Logan interrupted again. “Maybe can we please get all of them? Because I remember all of those books, because Daddy and Papa used to read them to me when I was little, and I think that they are all good books for me to read to the babies.”

Virgil nodded, dropping them in the book basket and pointing at the next shelf. “What about over here?”

When he saw what Virgil was pointing to, Logan visibly brightened. “Oh! Those are all of the Eric Carle books. Eric Carle is an _illustrator_ and his books have really pretty pictures, and I especially like the one called ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ because Daddy used to read it to me and he did silly voices for all of the animals, and when I was little I thought it was funny.”

He looked at the row of books, trailing his little hand over their spines appreciatively. Virgil watched him for a second, before he pulled out pretty much every Eric Carle book they had and offered them to Logan.

“So you wanna get these for the babies, too?” he asked. Logan looked at the books in his hand for a few beats before smiling widely, grabbing them and placing them in the book basket.

“Yes, I want to get them for the babies, too,” he declared. Virgil smiled, and turned back to the bookshelves.

Shelf after shelf after shelf they went, Logan pointing out different books he remembered from his childhood (well— his even younger childhood, that is) and Virgil pulling them off of the shelf for him. Despite the books being thinner than the ones Logan usually got, they still ended up needing a second book basket for everything they found (Logan was still under the impression that the library only allowed one book basket per person— Virgil thought that misconception was the only thing stopping him from checking out literally dozens of books at a time).

All in all, they had fun. They talked and laughed and Logan even got to hold the door open for another family as they were leaving, which had him practically buzzing with pride the entire way home.

“Normally I would be able to carry all of the books by myself, but I think that because I got so many books that maybe they would fall if I tried to carry them,” Logan explained as they made the walk back to his house. Indeed, both Virgil and Logan had literal armloads of picture books, to the point where they couldn’t even hold hands as they walked. Virgil was more put out by that fact than he’d admit.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” he agreed. “Your dads will be very surprised.”

Loga nodded, careful to not let the movement jostle his stack. “Yes, because I never have checked out so many books at the same time.”

“Will you even have time to read them all before they’re due?”

“Of course,” Logan said with determination. “I am a very good reader.”

He stopped walking for just a second to push his glasses back on his face, causing the books in his arms to teeter precariously before he began walking again.

“And maybe— and maybe my dads will want to read them, too,” Logan continued, staring straight ahead with a small smile. “Maybe we can take turns reading the books, so I will read one and then Daddy will read one and then Papa will read one—”

“That sounds like a really good idea, Logan,” Virgil responded truthfully. “Your dads will love to read with you.” 

Logan craned his neck to smile up at him, and nothing in the world could’ve stopped Virgil from smiling back. They hurried home, Logan chattering like normal, and Virgil almost forgot his strange behavior from earlier.

Until the boy abruptly stopped talking as soon as his house came into view.

“What’s wrong?” Virgil asked, whipping his head around to peer at the house. Immediately he saw what Logan had noticed: there was no car in the driveway.

“I thought that they would be home by now,” Logan said, casting a confused look up at Virgil.

“Maybe one of them is home with the babies and the other one went to the grocery store,” Virgil supplied. Logan nodded, but as they reached the front door they could both tell that there were no lights on inside.

“Um, hang on…” Virgil muttered softly, precariously balancing the books while he fished the house keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Logan didn’t even wait for Virgil to step back before he pushed the door open. Virgil winced as he heard the knob hit the wall behind it with a bang.

“Careful,” he warned, but Logan was already hurrying through the front hall farther into the house. Virgil carefully closed the door and was in the process of relocking the door when his phone buzzed in his back pocket. 

Hurriedly, he dropped the books on the end table and pulled his phone from his pocket. There, he saw he’d just gotten a few texts from Janus, with another one popping up as he read them.

_Janus: doctors r bitches_

_Janus: ok not all doctors r bitches but this one in particular is_

_Janus: meaning, we’re still here and will be for a while_

_Janus: pat is about to flip a table lmao i love him so much_

_Janus: tell logi we’ll bring pizza for dinner_

_Janus: <3_

Virgil sighed a little as he read the texts. He picked up the books he’d been carrying and moved to find Logan.

“Hey, Lo?” he called out, eyes on his phone as he typed a reply one handed. “I just got a text, and they’re actually still at the babies’ checkup.”

He looked up as he deposited his books on the coffee table. There was Logan, standing in the middle of the room and looking up at him with a furrowed brow.

“How long are they going to be gone?”

Virgil checked his phone again. “Not sure, but your Papa said a while.”

Logan blinked up at him.

“Oh,” he replied.

The two stared at each other for a few beats. There was a twinge in Virgil’s chest. Like he was missing something.

“Um, do you want a snack?” he offered. Logan looked at him for another moment before dropping his gaze to the picture books in his arms. He shrugged.

“... Okay, buddy,” Virgil said softly. He placed his pile of books down onto the coffee table, and after another moment of hovering spun on his heel to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry your dads aren’t home yet, Logan,” he called behind him with earnest sympathy. “Um. They said they’ll bring home, pizza, though? So that’s fun, right?”

“They are busy with the babies,” Logan said suddenly. “I understand.”

Virgil froze.

Slowly, like he didn’t want to draw attention to the movement, he turned around.

Logan was still standing in the middle of the living room. The late afternoon daylight streaming in from the windows held the scene in a strange sort of stillness. Logan was looking down at the books in his hands, shoulders hunched and mouth downturned.

He looked so small, standing there all alone. Virgil felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

“Logan, are you okay?” he asked hesitantly, stepping back into the living room.

Logan jerked up, his mouth flattening into a straight line as he nodded.

“Yes, thank you, I am okay,” he said flatly. “I am just a little disappointed because I really wanted to read the picture books with my dads— um, and with the babies, but I am okay, thank you.”

He nodded again, more to himself this time, and set his pile of books down onto the coffee table with a dull thump. “I am going to go to my room for a little bit because I am going to do my summer math book that Mrs. Christian gave me.”

Logan turned and headed towards the stairs, his head hanging low and his frown even more pronounced.

“Logan, wait!”

The words were out of Virgil’s mouth before he’d even realized he’d spoken. Logan stopped at the bottom of the stairs, one hand on the railing as he looked at Virgil warily.

“How about we read them together?”

Loan blinked in surprise, and Virgil felt the same.

“But… but the babies are not here, and I got all of the picture books only because I wanted to read them to the babies,” he said with a furrowed brow. Virgil nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets and shrugging.

“Yeah, I know, but this way, you can… check and make sure that they’re all good books to read to your brothers,” he explained haltingly. “You know, maybe you forgot some of them, so, uh. It’ll be like practice for when they come home?”

Even as the words were leaving his mouth, Virgil doubted himself. Logan could get angry, Logan could cry, Logan could shrug it off and go back to his room and be sad and _alone_ , which was maybe the worst possible option Virgil could think of. He held his breath and prayed that his face was neutral as Logan processed his words.

Which ended up not taking long at all.

“Yes, please, I think that is a good idea, thank you!” Logan replied, hopping away from the stairs with his bright smile back on his face. He bounced past Virgil and began gathering up all of the picture books, dropping them in a messy pile on one end of the couch.

Virgil blinked, then laughed softly. “Okay, okay, be careful, don’t hurt the books.”

He moved to join the bouncing boy on the couch, smushing the throw pillows out of the way so they could sit side by side on the middle cushion. Logan kicked his legs idly as Virgil pulled a book onto his lap— and then promptly snatched it out of Virgil’s hands.

“I am going to start with the Dr. Suess books because Dr. Suess is my favorite!”

With that, Logan opened to the first page of The Cat In The Hat and began to read before Virgil could say anything else.

Virgil blinked. He opened his mouth to protest, but Logan looked so proud, perched atop the well-worn couch cushion with his book in his hands. Virgil closed his mouth, and smiled, and sat back to give every bit of his attention to Logan.

The kid started off strong: sitting up straight next to Virgil, making sure he didn’t skip a word or turn the page too early. His voice rang out with a practiced ease, clearly having memorized the words to his most favorite books years ago. Sometimes he’d pause in between books, whipping his head to Virgil so he could chatter about what he knew about each book and which ones were his parents favorites and how many times he’d read them all.

“— And then, and then with _this_ one,” he continued, when half of the books in their pile were discarded on the other side of the couch, “this one is, um, it is written and _illustrated_ by Maurice Sendak.” His voice was still clear, his words still carefully enunciated, but Virgil could see the way he’d begun to rub his eyes and stifle his yawns. It was pretty cute.

His gaze dropped from Logan’s face to the book in his lap. Virgil felt his lips quirk into a smile.

“I remember reading this when I was your age,” he said. Hunkered down in his elementary school library, hiding among the bean bags and reading every single book in his small school catalogue— Virgil remembered it all very well.

Logan looked at him with that look kids get when they first realize that a grown up hasn’t always been a grown up. “Really?”

“Really,” Virgil agreed. He reached over to point at the giant creature on the front of the book. “I used to be scared of him.”

Virgil hadn’t meant much by the comment— he’d expected Logan to puff his chest and proudly announce how he wasn’t scared of anything, and certainly not anything as silly as the Wild Things. Instead he looked down at the book, his palm coming to rest against the monster’s face.

“Papa likes this book a lot,” he said simply. His fingers stroked its shiny hard cover, and he seemed completely lost in his thoughts. Virgil watched him for a few seconds.

“Hey, Lo?” he asked before he could stop himself. “How about I read for a bit?”

Another surprise: Logan didn’t immediately reject him. He just looked torn, and very small.

“But… but I don’t _need_ help,” he protested weakly.

And, well. What could Virgil say to that? _You’re too young to do everything by yourself? It’s okay to act like a little kid, because you are one? Not letting us treat you like the child you are is silly?_

All true statements. And all things that would make Logan horribly unhappy to hear.

“Of course not,” Virgil replied. “It’s just that when you go back to school in the fall, you won’t be able to read to the babies all day. So I need to practice reading out loud, so that I can read to them when you’re not here.”

A beat.

And then Logan looked up at Virgil with a small, shy smile.

“Yes, thank you, I think that is very smart!” he said, passing the book over to Virgil. He opened the book with one hand, throwing the other arm behind the couch so he could turn the book toward Logan.

And Virgil started reading.

He read about Max’s adventure in the place where the Wild Things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth. And then he read about Peter’s adventure on a snowy day, and after that, about Corduroy’s adventure to find his button. He read about the Parisian Madeline and the porcine Olivia, about Mike Mulligan with his steam shovel and Harold with his purple crayon and Alexander with his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He read about why you shouldn’t give mice cookies and why you shouldn’t let pigeons drive the bus. He read about a spider named Anansi, a turtle named Franklin, and an anteater named Arthur. He read about Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Rabbit, and Curious George, and Frog and Toad, and the Berenstain Bears, and the Little Engine That Could.

He read and read and read. And as he read, Logan listened.

By the fourth book, he started to relax against Virgil’s side, his tiny body tucked snugly under Virgil’s outstretched arm.

By the ninth his head had dropped to rest against Virgil’s chest, which was rising and falling with slow, careful breaths.

His eyelids were beginning to droop halfway through the thirteenth, and his thumb had somehow found its way into his mouth before Virgil could even start book fourteen.

And by book number twenty— by the time Virgil was slowly and softly saying goodnight to a great green room and everything inside it— Logan was no longer listening. Because Logan was fast asleep.

Virgil let the last lines of the book trail off. His gaze dropped to the silent, sleeping child curled against his side. Logan’s glasses were pressing uncomfortably into his face. A few indecisive seconds passed before Virgil carefully pulled them off the boy’s face, folding them and setting them neatly on the coffee table.

There was stillness again. Virgil didn’t think he could make himself get up even if he wanted to. All he could do was sit and watch Logan’s chest rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall.

“We’re back!”

Virgil nearly jumped. For a moment he panicked that the return of his partners would break the silent spell, but the two of them made a beeline for the nursery, their bags dumped in the front hall, and he knew that they, too, were dealing with sleeping children.

He wondered if he should grab their bags for them, but then Logan sighed, soft and sweet, and he had to fight the urge to shove the entire world out of that house, just to keep him from waking up.

Unfortunately, ‘the entire world’ included Patton and Janus, who were now making their way away from the nursery. They spoke in hushed voices as they returned to retrieve the takeout food and baby supplies from the front hall, but the fact that they were talking at all made Virgil want to cover Logan’s ears.

“I’m so sorry we’re late,” Patton called out with genuine remorse. “The wait took a _bit_ longer than we expected, and we may have gotten a _little_ overheated…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Janus interjected; judging from his voice, he was much more amused at the situation than Patton. “I loved watching you become more and more passive aggressive toward a bored receptionist because we’ve been waiting for two hours without seeing a single doctor.”

“And then there might have been a _slight_ hiccup when we actually finally saw the doctor—”

“I will admit that perhaps telling the doctor that his father would be disappointed in him for keeping us waiting for so long was a bit harsh, but hey, if it works, it works—” 

“Anyway!” Patton continued breezily. “The twins are asleep, the doctor is happy with their progress, and we’ve got— pizza?”

Patton’s sentence abruptly ended with a questioning lilt, and Virgil did his best to turn around without moving too much.

There was Patton, standing just behind the couch, staring wide-eyed at the sight of his oldest son asleep against Virgil’s side. His eyes switched between Virgil, to Logan, then back to Virgil.

“Uh,” Virgil said eloquently. “Hey.”

Patton blinked, a bemused smile rising to his face.

“Hey,” he replied, coming around the couch and crossing his arms. “All good?”

Virgil nodded, “Yeah. We were reading, and he fell asleep.”

Patton nodded, his eyes trailing across the discarded stacks of books before widening suddenly.

“Is that Goodnight Moon?” he asked, gesturing to the book on Virgil’s lap. At Virgil’s nod, he laughed softly, adding, “We haven’t read that one in years. And— and Where The Wild Things Are, and Winnie the Pooh?

“Did he actually let you read to him?” Janus interjected, stepping around the other side to stare down at Virgil and his son incredulously. “Read _picture books_ to him?”

Virgil blinked, floundering.

“He, uh. I think he kinda asked?” he finally responded. “I mean, he said he wanted to check them out so he could read them to the babies, but…”

His eyes drifted to the sea of picture books around them, then to the sleeping boy curled up under his arm, and finally back up to Janus.

Janus paused for just a moment, before giving a quiet sigh. “Oh, little brainiac.”

Carefully, so as not to disturb the young boy, he eased himself onto the couch next to Virgil and grabbed his hand that wasn’t holding onto the young boy. Slowly, enough that Virgil could’ve pulled away if he wanted to, Janus raised the hand to his mouth and gave the back of Virgil’s hand a warm kiss.

“Thanks,” he said simply, like that one word wasn’t enough to make Virgil’s chest pulse with affection. He nodded back, careful to keep his torso still. There was no way he was going to move that boy from his careful position.

Until Patton abruptly lifted the sleeping boy by his underarms and dropped him right in Virgil’s lap.

Virgil would deny the panicked choking noise he made until the day he _died_. Especially when his horrified gaze was only met with Patton’s amused smile and small shrug.

“There’s no way I wasn’t gonna get in on this snuggle action,” he said plainly. Virgil wanted to respond, but he was a little busy being too afraid to breathe, lest his wake Logan up from his accidental slumber.

From his other side, Janus snorted. “Jeez, you’re so tense. You know he’s a hard sleeper. Plus, he’s not gonna break.”

He proved his point by abruptly pulling Logan’s arm out of its bent position so that it wouldn’t cramp. Virgil couldn’t help but suck in another panicked breath at the movement, but true to his word, Logan didn’t wake up. Instead, he merely shifted in his sleep, using his now free arm to wrap himself tighter around Virgil’s chest.

Virgil could hear Janus and Patton’s soft laughter surrounding him. He joined after a moment, allowing his arms to wrap around the little boy’s back.

“You’re so cute,” Patton cooed into his ear, making heat rush to his cheeks.

“Shut up.”

“We shan’t,” Janus replied. “And you can’t get up right now, so you’re gonna have to hear it.”

Virgil turned to stick his tongue out at Janus. Patton took the opportunity to begin stroking Virgil’s hair, making his faux-irritation vanish as he melted into the couch.

He heard Janus snort. “Good, right?”

Virgil didn’t know if he was talking about Patton’s large hand running through his hair, but he nodded just the same. Janus leaned in closer to rest his head on Virgil’s shoulder, leaving him surrounded by warmth on all sides.

The three men sat there for what felt like ages; they shifted occasionally, but only to press closer to each other. Logan didn’t stir once.

“Thank you for watching him today,” Janus added an indeterminate amount of time later. Virgil hummed blearily; he’d almost fallen asleep on that couch.

“‘Course,” he rumbled. He hadn’t realized that at some point he’d begun to rub his hand up and down Logan’s back, until Patton grabbed it and pulled it away.

He turned, but the other man was already pinning him with a look that made Virgil feel shockingly vulnerable.

“You have no idea how much we appreciate you,” he murmured, before raising Virgil’s hand to give him another kiss on his knuckles.

Virgil felt himself flush. All he could manage was a nod and a breathy, “Yeah.”

It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t what he meant, it wasn’t anything at all like what he should say— 

But Patton smiled, and out of his peripheral Virgil saw Janus do the same. No pushing, no pressure. Just… acknowledgement. It was really, _really_ nice.

Then Patton laughed softly, his hand coming down to graze Logan’s cheek.

“Still sucking that thumb, huh?”

Janus gave a huff that was half irritation and half adoration. “I told you we stopped using the paci too soon.”

“He didn’t like it, Janny, I wasn’t gonna force it into his mouth!”

“Sure, because sucking on his germy thumb is so much better—”

“ _Shhh_ ,” Virgil interjected, interrupting the couple from what seemed to be a years-old argument. They both stopped talking and looked to him in quiet surprise.

Virgil felt his cheeks grow warmer, shrugging a little as he sheepishly added, “He’s sleeping.”

He was all too aware of how out of place it was for him to shush the two of them on behalf of their own son, but from the way Patton’s smile grew even softer and Janus curled closer to his side, he figured they weren’t that upset about it.

They stayed like that for a few minutes more before Janus gave a contented sigh, patting Logan’s arm before rising to his feet.

“Alright,” he said. “If he’s really not going to wake up, then I think it’s bedtime.”

Virgil blinked in surprise. “Uh, he didn’t have any dinner—”

“The pizza will save, and I’ll make waffles in the morning,” Patton interrupted with a reassuring smile. “Come on.”

Then he, too, stood up from the couch, and now Janus and Patton were both standing above him, looking down at him with matching inviting smiles. Neither of them moved to collect Logan from Virgil’s lap.

Virgil’s mouth opened and closed for a few seconds. “Um. Okay.”

He looked down at Logan’s curled up body, trying to figure out the best way to do this. With incredibly slow movements, Virgil worked his arms underneath Logan’s back and knees, and after triple checking that he wasn’t going to hurt the boy by moving, he pulled himself off of the couch with Logan cradled in his arms.

Here, Logan moved once, and Virgil found it difficult to breathe through the anxiety that coursed through him; but all the boy did was turn a little in order to rest his head back on Virgil’s chest. Otherwise, he stayed completely asleep.

Virgl felt himself release a slow, cautious breath. Logan’s face was so utterly peaceful, slack and still and calm and _young_. Of course, he was constantly reminded that Logan wasn’t nearly as old as he liked to act, but in this moment, Virgil could practically see the toddler that Logan once was, hidden behind the big words and heightened sense of maturity that he sported every day.

Logan made a soft noise in his sleep, and Virgil had to fight the strongest urge to coo. He was just a _baby_.

A soft snicker finally forced him to drag his eyes away from Logan’s sleeping face, only to find himself staring at Patton’s highly amused one.

“Cute, right?” he asked, and Virgil would’ve told him that cute could not even begin to cover what he was thinking right now, if Patton hadn’t stepped forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead. It was pleasant, as Patton’s kisses always were, but Virgil was more concerned with the anxiety-inducing weight of a sleeping child in his arms.

“Come on,” Patton instructed again, turning away and guiding Virgil up the stairs to Logan’s bedroom. Janus had already gone up to get things ready, Virgil guessed, judging by the warm lamplight that lit up the hallway to the bedroom.

As they reached the room, Janus appeared in the doorway, and the smile he cast at the three of them made Virgil’s heart flutter in a very cliche way. He stepped to the side, allowing Patton to pass him and lead Virgil towards Logan’s tiny bed.

“Watch your step,” Janus whispered; standing in the darkened bedroom made them all instinctively talk much quieter. “He’s got a new project going on.”

He gestured to the floor, and Virgil spared a glance down to see a messy mat covered with paint, wires, and styrofoam balls.

“Didn’t he already make a model of the solar system?” Virgil asked quietly, recognizing the project from an arts and crafts book Logan had gotten from the library.

“He found out that he accidentally read an outdated book, so now he’s making another one without Pluto,” Patton explained, folding back the blankets and waving Virgil over.

Virgil followed him, and all too quickly it was time to set Logan down. He leaned forward, gently placing the kid with his head on the pillow.

Logan whimpered, and Virgil froze, hovered halfway over him as he stirred.

“Daddy?” Logan whispered without opening his eyes.

Virgil relaxed, looking for Patton’s instruction. The other man nodded, stepping forward so he and Virgil could trade places.

“Hey, baby,” he whispered, stroking a hand through Logan’s hair. “Papa and I are gonna help you get in your PJs, okay?”

Janus stepped forward from the other side of the bed with a pair of space themed pajamas in his hands. Virgil turned away to give them some privacy, taking the time to examine the contents of Logan’s crowded bedroom.

It was small, and the large mass of an art project in the middle of the floor made it feel downright cramped, but it seemed fitting for Logan. Several mismatched bookshelves lined the walls, all of them stuffed to the brim; there were handmade crafts, museum gift shop trinkets, and cheap children’s party favors scattered over every flat surface; and every single wall was lined with drawing after drawing after drawing, all of them signed in Logan's messy scrawl.

Virgil stepped closer to inspect the drawings in the dim light. Some were obviously recent, but others seemed to be years old. They were simple enough, as kids’ drawings often are: stick figures with circle heads and rectangle bodies and big smiley faces. He laughed softly, moving down the line until one drawing in particular caught his eye.

Four smiling stick figures stood in a line. Their physical features were incomprehensible— Logan, bless his heart, was not an artist— but the giant writing underneath each figure labeled them as ‘Daddy’, ‘Papa’, ‘Me’, and…

Virgil blinked. There was the fourth stick figure, drawn entirely in purple marker with a matching giant smile on its face. Under it, in Logan’s careful block letting, were the words ‘Mr. Virgil’.

He fought the urge to reach up and touch the paper, just to make sure that it was real. At the same moment, a warm hand pressed gently against his back.

Virgil turned and looked up at the warm smile Patton was giving him. He smiled back, letting himself be turned around and pulled back over to Logan’s bed, where the little boy was being tucked under his blankets by Janus.

For a second, Virgil’s steps faltered, but the feeling of Patton’s hand was a reassuring pressure on his back. Slowly, they moved to perch across from Janus on the other side of the bed.

“… And there was a big scale that was shaped like a bowl, and we laid the babies down one at a time so the doctor could weigh them,” Janus was explaining to Logan as they eased themselves onto the mattress. “And then the doctor took out all of his tools, and he looked over the babies from head to toe, and he told us they were both perfectly healthy.”

“What kinda tools?” Logan asked, voice dull and heavy with sleep.

“I took some pictures for you,” Janus replied, one hand absentmindedly stroking Logan’s hair. “I’ll show you tomorrow.”

Logan gave a small whine. “But I wanna know ‘bout them now.”

“We know, honey,” Patton interjected gently, reaching up to mirror Janus’ soothing motions. “But it’s late, and you need to get some sleep.”

Logan stiffened, but before he could protest further Virgil added, “If you want, we can go back to the library tomorrow and see if they have any books about doctors’ offices and check-ups. Um, just if you want to, I mean.”

He could feel both Janus and Patton looking at him, but Logan merely yawned and relaxed back into his tiny bedsheets.

“Okay,” he said softly. Janus huffed a small laugh, and Patton reached over to gently take Virgil’s hand. He didn’t really know what this sort of bedtime ritual included, but neither Patton nor Janus seemed inclined to get up anytime soon, so he focused on the feeling of Patton’s warm hand in his.

“Thank you for reading with me,” Logan continued.

“Thank _you_ for reading with _me_.”

“I forgot to pick the best book for the babies.”

“It’s okay. You can do it tomorrow.”

Logan cracked his eyes open, blinking blearily up at Virgil.

“You’re a really good reader,” he informed him matter-of-factly.

“Thanks, bud,” Virgil replied. “So are you.”

Logan nodded.

“I know.” He looked like he was going to say more, but he interrupted himself by releasing another heavy yawn instead.

“Are you tired, darling?” Janus asked, reaching up to reposition the stuffed animals that sat by Logan’s head. The little boy gave another sleepy nod.

Patton, smoothing down the blankets just under Logan’s chin, continued, “What are you gonna dream about tonight?”

Logan was silent for a few seconds, eyes closed. Virgil almost thought he had fallen asleep before his tiny, soft voice whispered, “The moon.”

“Oh?” Janus asked. “Because of the book you were reading earlier?”

Logan nodded. “Goodnight Moon.”

All three grownups looked at each other in surprise, but Patton broke the silence with a quiet laugh.

“I love that book,” Patton whispered reverently. “We used to read it to you every single night.”

He smiled at his near-sleeping son, then at Janus. There was a beauty in the look the two parents shared that made Virgil feel blessed to witness it.

Then, to Virgil’s surprise, Patton began to speak.

“Good night room, good night moon, good night cow jumping over the moon,” he murmured, one hand coming up to stroke Logan’s hair. “Good night light, and the red balloon.”

Virgil stared at him. Patton hadn’t even needed the book; years of reading it to his son left the words forever ingrained in his memory.

“Good night bears, good night chairs,” Janus continued with the next line. “Good night kittens and good night mittens. Good night clocks, and good night socks. Good night little house— and good night mouse.”

On ‘mouse’, Janus’ finger lightly tapped Logan’s nose, causing the little boy to scrunch his nose just barely before his face smoothed out again. The three of them gave quiet laughs, and then Pattn and Janus were looking at Virgil again.

He stared back, confused, before Janus slowly gestured his head toward Logan, his warm smile growing somehow softer as he looked back at Virgil.

Virgil floundered for a second, but he had the advantage of having just read the book earlier that night, and after a few moments the words came back to him.

“Um. Good night comb, and good night brush,” he recited softly, running his hand over the well-worn comforter. “Good night nobody. Good night mush. And good night to…”

Virgil trailed off. He caught Patton’s eye, and the other man laughed silently before simply mouthing ‘old lady’.

Virgil gave him a grateful smile. “And good night to the old lady whispering ‘hush’,” he finished. 

Patton smiled, proud and adoring, and Janus reached over Logan to take Virgil’s other hand.

“Good night stars,” Patton said.

“Good night air,” Janus continued.

“Good night noises everywhere,” Virgil finished.

His quiet words seemed to ring out through the room. The three of them sat still, watching Logan’s chest rise and fall, until Patton stood up to place a kiss on Logan’s cheek.

“Night night, baby,” Patton whispered. Janus shifted forward, pressing his lips to Logan’s forehead in a matching kiss.

“Good night, my darling.”

Virgil looked between the couple. Janus shot him another wonderful smile. Patton’s hand, warm and heavy, moved to rub small circles between his shoulder blades.

Virgil took their silent permission.

He moved forward, taking Patton’s place next to the boy. His eyes flicked to Janus, who nodded once in encouragement, before Virgil leaned down and placed a careful kiss on Logan’s head.

“Night, kid,” he murmured. Logan didn’t even stir: he was fast asleep. The rocket ship nightlight in the corner cast shadows over his slack face, and Virgil felt his heart lurch and squeeze.

The moment passed, and he finally stood from the bed. Patton and Janus were waiting for him, holding out their hands. Virgil ducked his head, suddenly shy, and took one of each. He let Patton press a kiss onto his temple: Janus gave him one on his jaw. Hand in hand in hand, the three men stepped into the hallway, letting Logan’s bedroom door click softly shut.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: i forgot to add this-- here are all of the children's books referenced in the one paragraph that began with "And Virgil started reading":
> 
> 1\. Where The Wild Things Are  
> 2\. The Snowy Day  
> 3\. Corduroy  
> 4\. Madeline  
> 5\. Olivia  
> 6\. Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel  
> 7\. Harold And The Purple Crayon  
> 8\. Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day  
> 9\. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie  
> 10\. Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus  
> 11\. Anansi the Spider  
> 12\. Franklin the Turtle  
> 13\. Arthur  
> 14\. Winnie The Pooh  
> 15\. The Tale of Peter Rabbit  
> 16\. Curious George  
> 17\. Frog and Toad  
> 18\. The Berenstain Bears  
> 19\. The Little Engine That Could  
> 20\. Goodnight Moon
> 
> they're all great books!! i was so happy i could reference so many :D
> 
> follow me on tumblr at [olliedollie1204!](https://olliedollie1204.tumblr.com/)


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